If you want to make the right decisions to improve working conditions for your employees and increase their feelings of engagement, you need some direct feedback from them. And you shouldn’t be waiting for annual employee surveys to collect that data.
Pulse surveys are short surveys that you can use to gauge how your employees are feeling. You can use them to keep track of your employees’ engagement levels, to get feedback on changes you’ve made to policies or facilities, or to get feedback on what changes employees would like to see in the company. Pulse surveys also show employees that you’re interested in their opinions and that their feedback is important to you. You can also use them to assess how your changes are working out so you can make adjustments promptly if you need to.
What Are Pulse Surveys?
Pulse surveys are both shorter and more frequent than the annual surveys most employees are used to. They’re used to get a snapshot of employee feelings on an issue at a specific time. They can be used to measure levels of engagement, to see how people are responding to a change or event, or to see how progress is going on initiatives that are under way.
You should send pulse surveys out no less often than once a month, and no more often than once a week. Pulse surveys should include five to 15 questions. To improve participation rates, explain to the staff what the pulse surveys are and why it’s important to answer them before the surveys go out.
Do Pulse Surveys Right
Pulse surveys take just a couple of minutes to complete. Because they’re so short, pulse surveys can easily slide right into an employee’s workflow. That’s why many companies find it useful to do pulse surveys once a week or once every two weeks.
Keep pulse surveys as short as possible. Employees may not have the time or patience to answer a lot of questions – and too many questions can easily turn your pulse survey into a regular survey, which no one wants to do once a week. In addition to sending them out at regular intervals, you should send them out after significant events occur that affect the entire company, to see how employees are feeling about it.
Part of the goal of sending out pulse surveys is that you want your employees to feel like you value their feedback, because people appreciate leaders who show that they value feedback. It’s not enough to simply collect the data. You have to put it into action. Employees will quickly catch on if you don’t act on any of the feedback you’re getting from them. Only do pulse surveys if you’re prepared to use the data you’re collecting to make actionable changes – for example, increasing recognition to improve employee engagement in a time of flagging morale, or renovating the staff kitchen and break area so that employees have better working conditions and a more comfortable place to eat lunch and take breaks.
Reap the Benefits of the Data
The data you collect from your pulse surveys can be valuable for your company. For example, when you use a pulse survey to determine how engaged your employees are and what drives engagement among your workforce, you’ll be getting the information you need to boost engagement, and productivity along with it. If there’s something about your company that employees don’t like, you’ll be more likely to hear about it via anonymous surveys than via manager one-on-ones. If employees need better working conditions, or they’re reeling after a round of mass layoffs, pulse surveys can let you know.
The raw data that you collect from pulse surveys could make your company more successful. Think about how much money you could save if you knew exactly how to reduce turnover – that’s money you could be putting back into your business. Think about all the additional money you could make by keeping engagement up – that’s even more money that you can use to grow your business. Pulse surveys will help you generate more revenue, keep your employees happier, increase productivity and morale, and strengthen bonds between managers and teammates.
Pulse surveys are a valuable tool to help you get a more accurate picture of how your employees are feeling about their jobs, the company, and their career prospects. Integrate them into your operations today, and you could turn your company into one of those places where everyone wants to work.
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